Tuesday 21 August 2012

Jiyar Gol: Turkey At A Crossroad Part I: it reveals Turkey’s foreign policy that is significantly shifting from the West towards the East, it is one of the fastest growing economy in the world. but the old question of Human Rights and Kurdish problem remain. Is Turkey dreaming of returning to the era of Ottomans? Could Turkey be a model for the other Muslim countries? On a quest to reveal the story, I took on a journey to Turkey.

…

NOW! Lebanon
[local time]  22:27 The United States expressed deep skepticism Tuesday about suggestions by Syria’s deputy prime minister that the regime was open to discussing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s resignation.
 21:55 Tuesday’s death toll has increased to 195, Al-Jazeera quoted activists as saying.
 20:53 Tuesday’s death toll has increased to 175, Al-Arabiya quoted activists as saying.
 20:20 An air strike killed 20 people in a bakery in Aleppo, Al-Jazeera quoted activists as saying.
 19:42 Piles of burning rubbish lined the streets of an Aleppo district as a taxi sped through carrying the wounded after yet another day of shelling and fighting in Syria’s battered second city.
 19:40 Newly appointed UN peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi is to be based in New York, the UN information service said Tuesday.
 19:31 The Syrian National Council, Syria’s main opposition group is studying the formation of a transitional government, its leader Abdel Basset Sayda said Tuesday.
 19:10 Tuesday’s death toll has increased to 152, Al-Arabiya quoted activists as saying.
 18:33 A top Syrian minister on Tuesday held out the prospect of strongman Bashar al-Assad stepping down as part of a negotiated settlement to 17 months of bloodshed that activists say has killed 23,000.
 18:15 The conflict between opposition fighters and regime forces has turned Syria into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, exacerbated by attacks on aid workers, US officials said Tuesday.
 18:07 A top Syrian minister on Tuesday dismissed as mere election politics US President Barack Obama’s implicit threat to launch an attack should the regime deploy its chemical weapons stockpile.
 17:08 Tuesday’s death toll in Syria increased to 110 people killed by security forces, Al-Jazeera quoted activists as saying.
 16:26 Russia on Tuesday defended its ally Syria against the threat of outside interference after US President Barack Obama called the use of chemical weapons by the regime a “red line”.
 15:15 The death toll in Syria increased to 60 people killed by security forces, Al-Arabiya on Tuesday quoted activists as saying.
 15:13 Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a senior visiting Syrian minister on Tuesday that the regime’s current efforts to end 17 months of violence were insufficient and required further effort.
 14:43 Syrian forces killed 44 people on Tuesday, Al-Arabiya quoted activists as saying.
 14:27 Syria’s rebels control almost two thirds of the northern city of Aleppo, a top Free Syrian Army commander said on Tuesday, in a claim denied by a security source in Damascus.
 13:47 Syrian forces executed medics in Daraa’s Al-Harak, Al-Jazeera television quoted activists as saying.
 13:10 The opposition Syrian National Council on Tuesday accused the Lebanese authorities of failing to act over a wave of kidnappings and arrests of Syrians in Lebanon and accused some political parties of complicity.
 11:50 Syrian forces shelled the Aleppo town of Mareaa, Al-Arabiya television quoted activists as saying.
 11:19 Syrian forces continued shelling Daraa’s Dael on Tuesday, Al-Arabiya television quoted activists as saying.
 10:13 The Syrian army shelled districts in and around the northern city of Aleppo before dawn Tuesday, killing nine civilians, among them women and children, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
…

Reuters:Russia warns West over Syria after Obama threats

 BEIRUT – Russia warned the West on Tuesday against unilateral action on Syria, a day after U.S. President Barack Obama threatened “enormous consequences” if his Syrian counterpart used chemical or biological arms or even moved them in a menacing way. | Video

Leaders urge U.N. Security Council to push for Syria aid access: UNITED NATIONS – Global leaders and aid groups urged the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday to push for humanitarian access in Syria and prevent thousands of people displaced by the 17-month conflict from being “held hostage” by the world body’s political deadlock…

Syria medics treat more heavy weaponry wounds, charity says

PARIS – Medics in Syria have been treating more wounds from tank and aircraft bombardment in the past month, charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said on Tuesday, the latest sign government forces are using heavier weaponry to try to crush the uprising.

Wounds inflicted on victims of the violence have worsened since the July 18 rebel bomb attack that killed members of President Bashar al-Assad’s inner circle, including his defense minister and brother-in-law, the medical organization said.

Medics from the charity are seeing more injuries from tank shelling, aerial bombardment and heavy artillery than at any other time during the 17-month-old conflict which has killed 18,000, MSF said.

“We saw big changes after the bombing of the security forces in Damascus in July with the degradation of security,” Brian Moller, an anesthetist nurse who is heading up an MSF mission in northern Syria, told Reuters.

“This attack emboldened the Free Syrian Army and then we started seeing injuries from large ordnance shelling … The injuries are graphic.”

At least 170,000 people have fled the violence in Syria, according to the United Nations, and 2.5 million need aid inside the country.

Paris-based MSF, which until now had declined to detail its operations in Syria, said it had sent a team of medics to the north of Syria in June to open a hospital that has been working around the clock since.

The team has so far carried out about 150 operations at the site on women, children and men, including FSA fighters, with injuries ranging from sniper fire wounds to puncture wounds from heavy mortar rounds, which break into fragments upon impact.

“SAFE ZONE”

The seven MSF medics in Syria include surgeons and anesthetists and are backed up by about 50 local workers, MSF staff who returned to the organization’s Paris headquarters this week to be relieved by colleagues told reporters.

MSF General Manager Felipe Ribeiro told Reuters the charity had informed Syrian authorities about the hospital and had been “politely” told to leave the country. However, they had not received any direct threats and were in a safe zone under rebel control, he said.

With diplomatic efforts to end the war stymied by divisions between world powers and regional rivalries, Syria faces the prospect of a prolonged conflict that increasingly sets a mainly Sunni Muslim opposition against Assad’s Alawite minority.

MSF has secretly been sending medics into Syria for short periods for almost a year and working with local groups. After failing to get government approval to set up a base, it said it opted to go it alone in an area where Assad’s forces had least control.

The hospital has a maximum capacity of 30 patients and includes 12 beds, operating theatres and an ultrasound machine.

“We looked for a place where we could guarantee access for patients, security of our staff and continuity of care, so that’s why we decided to take the risk to set up a 24/7 hospital inside Syria,” Ribeiro said.

Victims mostly discover the hospital through word of mouth and some of those treated had travelled as far as 150 km (93 miles) to reach it, MSF said.

The hospital has supplies to last two weeks and while it is difficult to get them into the country, MSF’s local network has so far allowed it to maintain operations.

(Reporting By John Irish; Editing by Pravin Char)

…

BBC: Assad exit ‘up for discussion’

Syria’s deputy prime minister says all issues – include President Assad’s resignation – are up for discussion, but the West should not seek to intervene…